Improvement in button-holing and overseaming attachment for sewing-machine



2 Sheets$-heet I. HOWARD & JACKSON.

B uttonhofing and Overseaming Attachment for Sewing Machines.Fig-103,745,; Patented May 31, 1870.

Witnesses: Inventors:

2 S t s HOWARD & JACKSON eets heet 2 Buttonholing and OverseamingAttachment for Sewing Machines. No. 103,745. Patented May 31, 1870.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMUND HOWARD, OF FLUSHING, AND TVILLIAM H. JACKSON, OF BROOKLYN, NEI/VYORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BUTTON-HOLING AND OVERSEAMING ATTACHMENT FORSEWING-MACHINE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 103,745, dated May 31,1870.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, EDMU D HOWARD, of Flushing, county of Queens, andIVILLIAM H. J AOKsON, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, and State ofNew York, have invented certain Improvements in Sewing-Machines, ofwhich the following is a specification, reference being had to theaccompanying drawing.

Our invention relates to sewing-machines; and the invention consists incertain mechanical devices to be attached to and operated by and with anordinary sewing-machine, for the purpose of workingbutton-holes orsewing over the edge of fabrics, as hereinafter more fully explained.

Figure 1 is a sideelevation of a portion of a machine, with theapparatus attached. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the needle andloopers in a' different position. Fig. 3 is a front view of the same.Fig. 4 represents a modificationof the operating mechanism and Fig. 5are views of the throat-plate, detached.

In the patents heretofore granted to us for an attachment tosewing-machines for working button-holes, &c., the apparatus was soconstructed as to be secured horizontally upon the bed of the machine,the looping devices being operated by the shuttle-carrier.

In our present invention the mechanism is connected to the frame overthe bed of the machine, and is operated by the needle-bar, or othermovingpart above, the mechanism being intended to be attached to andused with any ordinary sewing-machine. This attachment or mechanismconsists, essentially, of two operating parts, a looper or secondaryneedle, I, and a vibrating finger, E, both arranged to moveintermittently and at certain fixed intervals." j

To construct the attachment, we first provide a bracket, B, which issecured by screws to the frame of the needle-bar in such a mannor as tobring the attachment in rear of the needle-bar and under the arm orshaft that operates the same, as shown in Fig. 1. In the rear end ofthis bracket B we mount a slide, 0, in the lower end of which is secureda straight needle, I, which has an elongated eye, and which needle wedenominate the looper. This looper, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, standsinclined at an angle of about forty-five dcgrees, and is so located thatas it descends its point passes directly under and in the line of thedescent of the needle (I of the sewing-machine, as shown in Fig. 3. Tooperatethis looper I, we pivot on the side of the bracket B a cam, D,which has in it a slot, the first half of which is made eccentric to thepivot, the remaining half, from u to a, being made concentric therewith.A pin, 0, protrudes from the side of the slide 0, and enters the slot inthe cam D, and the cam is connected by a link, 0, to the needlearm, orto a stud, b, attached to the needlebar above, as shown in Fig. l.

By this arrangement it will be seen that as the needle begins itsdownward movement the cam D, operating on the slide 0, moves the looperI at the same instant, the latter being slightly in advance of theneedle, so that the looper is in position first, with its elongated eyedirectly under the point of the needle, the latter descending andpassing through the eye of the looper. As the pin 0 arrives at the pointa the looper I ceases to move, and remains stationary'while the camcompletes its motion to a and back to u again, during which time theshuttle, or other thread-carrier below, will have passed through'theloop of the needle-thread, and the needle be drawn up out of the eye ofthe looper, when the latter will be raised to its original positionready for another movement. It will be observed that the looper I passesobliquely through a hole in the throatplate J, just over and so as toclear the shuttle, and under the rim of the feed-wheel or under thefeed-ratchet, if such be used.

WVe also provide a finger, E, which is pivoted at its upper end to thebracket B, in front of the slide 0, and between the bracket and the camD, as shown in Fig. 3. The general form of this finger is shown in Fig.1, where it is represented detached; It is made with a joint aboutmidway of its length, to permit its lower portion to be turned up out ofthe way when desired, it being held in place by a pin, f, which is bentin the form of a crank, with its wrist bearing against the side of thefinger E, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This pin f is mounted in a bearing,so as to turn therein, and its opposite end is provided with a shortercrank, standing at right angle to the first part, this short crank beingconnected by a spiral spring, g, to a pin above.

The tension ofthe spring thus serves to keep the foot of lower portionof the finger E pressed over against the looper I 5 and when the lowerpart of the finger is turned up, the pin f is also turned until theshort crank is brought on the dead-point, or in line with the spring,which then holds it in that position, the pin f then striking against apin, t, which projects from the side of the finger, and thereby holdsthe finger up, the crank f thus serving to hold the finger down to itswork, and also up out of the way.

The finger E has three independent movements, which are produced asfollows: It has on its rear side an arm, m, on its side near the base ofthis arm an incline, n, and on its front edge, toward its lower end, atoe or projection, w.

The arm m is struck by the pin a of the slide 0 as the latter ascends,which thus throws the finger E back to its rearmost position. At thesame time that this occurs, a pin, 1, which is held by a spring, 2',secured on the side of the cam D, and the end of which pin protrudesthrough a hole in the cam, rides up over the incline n, and engagesagainst its upper or rear face, so that as the cam descends this pin 1slides along on the rear face of the incline n, and thus throws thefinger E forward until the pin slips from behind the incline, the pointof the finger, by this movement being thrown forward past the looper andthe needle, as in Fig. 1, where it remains until the needle-bardescends, when a projection or toe-piece, V, secured to its lower end,comes in contact with the front projection or toe, w, on the spreader E,which drives the spreader back past the needle, with its point closeagainst the looper I, where it remains until the looper is carriednearly to its highest point, when the pin 0, striking against the underside of the arm on, throws the point of the spreader back and under thepoint of the looper, as represented in Fig. 2.

A plate, 70, is secured to the lower inner edge of the bracket B,against which the spreader E is pressed by the crank-pin f, this plate kthus serving as a bearing to guide the spreader in its forward movement,this plate 70 being so set as to permit the point of the spreader topass under the point of the looper when thrown clear back, and cause itto move obliquely past the needle when thrown forward.

The throat-plate J, as represented in Fig. 5, consists of a singlenarrow plate secured to the bed of the machine transversely across theshuttle-race, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. This plate J is provided with ahole, 1), at its outer end for the passage of the needle and looper, andwith a larger hole at its opposite end for a screw, by which it issecured to the bed of the machine. It has also a small stud or pin,2*,projecting from its upper face in front of the needle-hole, this pinbeing intended to enter the slit forming the button-hole, an (1 thusserve to hold it open so as to permit the looper to pass through it, andalso to operate as a guide, against which the edge of the fabric restsas it moves along, thus holding the fabric so that it shall not crowd orwork over in the way of the looper, and cause the needle to enter thefabric at a uniform distance from the edge.

In Figs. 1, 2, and 3 the attachment is represented as applied to thatclass of machines which has a vibrating needle-arm; but in Fig. 4 it isrepresented as applied to that class of machines which has a rotatingshaft instead of the vibrating arm for operating the needle. In suchcases the cam D is dispensed with, and motion is imparted to thelooper-slide by means of an elbow-lever, L, pivoted to an arm of thebracket 13, as shown in Fig. 4, the short arm of the lever beingprovided with a pin, 71, which engages in a cam-groove on the wheel R,secured to the end of the rotating shaft, the groove being so formed asto give to the lever L, and consequently to the looper I, the requiredmovements. In this case the spring pawl or pin 1, which rides over theincline n on the spreader, is applied to the connecting-link c, andoperates the same as when applied to the cam in the other case.

It is obvious that many other plans may be adopted to transmit motionfrom the needle-arm or rotating shaft to the looper and spreader butthose described are simple and efficient, and are amply sufficient foran illustration of the principle or mode of operation of our invention.

The above-described devices constitute the mechanical features of ourinvention, and their operation is as follows: The shuttle and needlebeing threaded as for ordinary sewing, and the throat-plate andattachment being secured in position, the cloth is placed under the footpresser, with the pin 0 in the slit or button-hole or against the edgeof the fabric, if it be desired to work the edge simply, and the machineis then set in motion. As it starts the looper I passes obliquelythrough the slit, under the edge of the material, until its eye comes directly under the needle d, which descends and passes through the fabric,and also through the eye of the looper, and down past the shut tle P, orother thread-carrier, as the case may be, this latter passing throughthe needle-loop in the usual manner. The needle is then drawn up, and asit rises out of the eye of the looper the latter is also drawn back tothe position shown in Fig. 2, the thread of the needle, as it is drawnup through the eye of the looper, bringing the shuttle-thread 0 with it,

as represented in Fig. 2. At this instant the lower forked end of thespreader E, which has been also brought to the position represented inFig. 2, engages with that part of the shuttle-thread which is betweenthe looper and the cloth, and immediately carries it over'the r i i iupper side of the fabric, thereby forming a loop directly under theneedle d, as shown in Fig. 1, so that as the needle descends it passesthrough this loop, and thus locks the shuttlethread at that point. Assoon as the needle has fairly entered the loop on top of the cloth thetoe V, on the end of the needle-bar, strikes against the projection 20of the spreader, thereby pushing the latter back to a position directlyin rear of the needle and alongside of the looper, where it remainsuntil the looper rises, when the pin e of the looper-slide, by strikingagainst the under side of the arm m, carries the point of the spreader Estill farther back, to the position shown in Fig. 2, ready to againengage with the loop of the shuttle-thread for another operation.

It will thus be seen that by these operations the locking of the threadsis made upon the upper edge of the fabric, the needle-thread coveringthe edge of the same, the stitch itself being the same as is produced byour former attachment. By these means we produce an attachment that issimpler and better, and that can be applied to all styles of machines,and which need not be removed for ordinary sewing, as it is onlynecessary to disconnect the link 0 from the driving bar or shaft, slideback the looper, and then turn up the spreader out of the way, when themachine can be used the same as though the attachment was not there.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim is-- 1. Theattachment for forming a button-hole stitch, constructed and operatingsubstantially as described, and arranged to be operated by theneedle-arm or shaft from above.

2. The looper I, constructed as described, and arranged to move fromabove diagonally across the line of the needles movement, under thefabric and over the lower thread-carrier, substantially as described.

3. The spreader E, provided with the arm m, incline n, and toe to,arranged to be operated by the spring pawl t of cam D, the pin e ofslide 0, and the toe-piece V of the needlebar, whereby it has impartedto it the intermittent reciprocating movements, substantially as and forthe purpose set forth.

4. The hinged spreader E, in combination with the bent or crank pin fand spring g,

arranged to operate as set forth.

EDMUND HOWARD. W. H. JACKSON. Witnesses TH. .S. HOWARD, OHAs. NIEMAN.

